👋 Hello friends,

Thank you for joining this week's edition of The Saturday Morning Newsletter. I'm Drew Jackson, and today we're exploring 15 articles, essays, companies, ideas, podcasts, videos, or thoughts that caught my attention this week for their potential to significantly impact our future.

Before we begin: The Saturday Morning Newsletter by Brainwaves arrives in your inbox every Saturday, a concise and casual digest of current events, optimistic news stories, and other interesting tidbits about venture capital, economics, space, energy, intellectual property, philosophy, and beyond. I write as a curious explorer rather than an expert, and I value your insights and perspectives on each subject.

Time to Read: 7 minutes.

Let’s dive in!

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#1: Helion

Description: Helion is a fusion energy company.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Helion recently raised $425M in venture capital funding. They are one of the major players currently looking to build the world’s first fusion reactor. Their huge new funding round will allow them to accelerate growth and hopefully be the first to achieve a long-term nuclear fusion reactor.

#2: Veir

Description: Veir is pioneering superconducting power lines.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Veir recently raised $75M in venture capital funding. Their new technology allows for 5-10x electricity capacity in the same amount of space compared to the cables that we use today. Our current infrastructure won’t be able to meet the growing electricity demands of the future, necessitating a new solution. Veir is building the solution today, offering better performance with a simpler design.

#3: Spaceium

Description: Spaceium is a developer of in-space infrastructure stations.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Spaceium recently raised $6.3M in venture capital funding. In the future of space commercialization, Spaceium estimates that fuel will be the biggest bottleneck to exponential exploration efforts. They are building unmanned in-orbit refueling stations capable of providing the necessary fuel to orbital vehicles once they leave the atmosphere and return from elsewhere.

#4: Gryd Energy

Description: Gryd Energy is a solar-as-a-subscription provider.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Gryd Energy recently raised $1.2M in venture capital funding. Solar panels are still quite expensive for residential owners, so Gryd is offering zero-cost solar panels on new buildings in the UK. If this model proves to work, they could revolutionize the residential solar industry by offering everyone no-cost solar solutions.

#5: Earth AI

Description: Earth AI is a critical metals discovery and technology company.

Why Is This Company Interesting? Earth AI recently raised $20M in venture capital funding. I first read about Earth AI in a Not Boring Deep Dive (would highly recommend). In the coming years, we’re going to need trillions of dollars of critical metals to support the clean energy transition, tech expansion, space exploration, etc. Current discoveries are rapidly slowing down, so Earth AI is revolutionizing the industry by discovering untapped deposits at a lower cost in less time.

LiveScience: China Plans to Build Enormous Solar Array in Space

Chinese scientists have announced a new plan to build a 1 km square solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves. It’s estimated that the energy collected by this project in one year will be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from Earth. It’s a huge idea, one that seems to be ripe to be destroyed by space debris.

Grist: California Just Debunked a Big Myth About Renewable Energy

A new study found that renewables fulfilled 100% of California’s electricity demand for up to 10 hours in 98 of 116 days. There were no blackouts during this time, generally due to backup battery power. At the peak, these renewables provided ~160% of the grid’s needs. This counteracts a common argument that grids cannot be stable majorly relying on renewables.

Euronews: Major Milestone for EU as Solar Power Overtakes Coal for the First Time

In 2024, solar power provided 11% of the EU’s electricity, whereas coal only accounted for 10% of the total energy produced. Over the last decade in the EU, coal has gone from the second-largest power source to the sixth-largest (and is expected to continue declining in share). This shows the large shift towards clean energy over the last 5 years and its progress in taking share from legacy fossil-fuel providers.

AP News: Trump Temporarily Halts Leasing and Permitting for Wind Energy Projects

President Trump signed an executive order halting offshore wind lease sales and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits, and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects. I would not be surprised if many of these temporary halts become permanent during the proposed “reassessment period”.

Flying Magazine: Boom Goes Supersonic, Makes Civil Aviation History

Boom Supersonic’s Bell X-1, an independently built jet, reached supersonic speeds for the first time this week. Their goal is to make the first supersonic commercial airliner since the Concorde, capable of revolutionizing world travel (around twice the speed of commercial airliners).

New Space: Trailer

The New Space movie comes out this week, detailing the new age of space (since the 2000s). It interviews many of the key players in the industry, providing context and a future-looking lens on goals for the future of space exploration and commercialization by private entities. When it comes out, I would encourage you to give it a watch as it’ll probably be super good.

Pitchbook: Valuation Expectations Still Holding Back IPO Market

Only 42 companies went public last year. 2025 is currently shaping up to be relatively similar. Later-stage companies are staying private longer as they wait for activity and valuations to increase. There’s a hefty IPO backlog waiting to be deployed.

Crunchbase: How Trump Could Reshape Intellectual Property And Small Business

During President Trump’s first term, IP enforcement was a high priority as he tried to respond to China and online counterfeiting efforts. Many expect that during his second term, we will see a larger push for IP protections and enforcement. This could increase costs for businesses that rely on international suppliers or global manufacturing.

“Small businesses and inventors often find themselves in uphill battles in the patent space, sometimes facing legal threats from larger companies or “patent trolls.” While Trump’s first term didn’t lead to significant patent reforms, his pro-business stance might bring patent policies designed to protect American inventors, creating a fairer environment for small innovators.”

The Conversation: Can Philosophy Help Us Manage Anxiety?

In a new book, Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide, by Samir Chopra, the idea of anxiety and philosophy are combined. Rather than trying to explain anxiety away, Chopra tries to cultivate the ability to see what anxiety “points to.” An example of one of many rationales used, “the Buddhist method for coping with anxiety is to make room for it in our lives. We do not just rid ourselves of anxiety then. Instead, we see it as an inevitable feature of our striving to live.”

An untested, but seemingly okay guide on how to deal with your emotions.

Angry -> Sing

Burned Out -> Walk

Overthinking -> Write

Anxious -> Breathe

Stressed -> Exercise

Sad -> Gratitude

Lazy -> Cold Shower

Impatient -> Reflect on Progress

Whether or not you use these techniques specifically, you should find some way in your life to deal with difficult emotions that arise. The solution will be different for each person.

See you Wednesday for Brainwaves,

Drew Jackson

Twitter: @brainwavesdotme

Email: brainwaves.me@gmail.com

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this content are my own and do not represent the views of any of the companies I currently work for or have previously worked for. This content does not contain financial advice - it is for informational and educational purposes only. Investing contains risks and readers should conduct their own due diligence and/or consult a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Any sponsorship or endorsements are noted and do not affect any editorial content produced.